Tonight I am van living on my plot of land near La Pine State Park, Oregon. Possession of piece of land where I determine how many days a person is allowed to stay. The private property sign I lashed to a tree deteriorated and fell off yet nobody checked it out. My acre is undeveloped and between residences on either side. 4264′ elevation. I’m about 30 miles from main Phil’s TH. The road I live on is gravel, 4 houses to the west the county road dead ends on to old haul roads in the Deschutes NF, dirt bikes and various 4 wheel rigs use the road for FS access.

Last night I anchored off rd 41, Catch and Release trail passes about 50′ away. I watch riders go by , I wave them on. I wait for eye contact. some wave back. 2 riders rode up, they were covered with Deschutes dirt ( wet volcanic sand), 1 guy said glad to see you again, he showed me a pic of his wife inside my van. Drew a blank on people and event. Pot’s good for not remembering. They were caught in localized T storm. Large drops that splattered, mostly show versus gully washer.

Today I picked trails that are closed during the week because of timber harvest. Again, joy of riding from my house making this ride a favorite. I think the number 1 reason a rider picks a favorite trail is if he /she can ride from home. I seem to have many trails that meet that criteria. So I started on Catch and Release heading to Storm King for the climb to Funner trail start. Rode to its end at Wanoga TH. Turned onto Upper Tiddly Winks which traversed mixed short climbs till finally pointing downhill with large man made mounds of dirt. Flow trail. Sunlight shone fully or was diffused by tree cover created shadows that my eyes had difficulty perceiving trail nuances. Why an informed person would chose to pedal it up is beyond me, I learned that from a group ride several years ago. Not crowded. Tiddly ends at Storm King intersection. I continued on SK, crossing highway, then turning down Upper COD.

Left COD to S Ticket to Ride which part descends a gulley that the trail plays swooping up 1 side then back again. Too much fun to ride this way, again, why climb it? Ended at Visitor center that is still closed. I take on water at the water spigot. Cross the highway and pick up Ticket to Ride back to van. 21.3 miles climbing 2054′ pedaling for 2 hrs 53 mins. Average speed was 7.37 mph which seems to be my average speed here. 60 hours of recovery before next ride.

Friday and Sat I rode out of anchor spot at Swampy TH. More favorite trails. I mixed up riding directions on Swede and SST in a loop. One ride I climbed Ridge up to Flag Tie. Winter left overs are slowly melting.

Both those rides ended being the same distance, elevation climbed , and pedal time. Just happened. 11.7 miles 12xx’ pedaling for 1 hr 39 mins. Trails up here are more primitive and lesser ridden.

It is what it is, I am riding a loaner wheel that lacks instant engagement of the I9 Hydra hub. The wind up is too great for my figuring out how to lift front wheel. I walk rock gardens I rode on the I9. Can’t ratchet pedal this wheel. I estimated wheel return to be 7/22.

Quiet and dark here, no night lights. La Pine is colder than Bend.

I think riding flow trails is like skiing groomers.

I’m anchored at Swampy TH arriving earlier today and riding. I’m just off the pavement. A trail running race is about to start. The registration table is just off my let rear. Surrounded by trail runners. Prize location to watch runners

The runners have different body type from mountain bikers who are different than roadies. Will ebike riders look like dough boys? Several mtn bikers have ridden off. Wonder about user conflict. Runners might be faster than a climbing biker. Registrar said this is the 3rd race in the series, the first time here. I’m living amongst a sea of runners. Thy don’t wear helmets.

Monday I drove up here to Swampy for a rest day and planned on riding Tues and Wed then driving back to town. Mon’s forecast was for 94 which is why Swampy ~2000′ higher would be cooler. Trails from Swampy are at 57xx’. I would find out melt out.

Tues waking up at location of my ride burned no fossil fuel. I listened to the Jan 6 Hearing. Afterwards I pedaled away up Ridge climbing from get go, almost made junction with Flag tie when my drive train started balking. The hub would not allow the wheel to free wheel, meaning no coasting or pedaling. WTF? Like the 3rd ride on the serviced hub, figured hub was culprit. The freewheel would not release to allow wheel to freewheel and not pedal. I used my gift multitool chain breaker, Lyzene, to break the chain. Now the return, not  able to pedal I would coast, and walk back to the van. I put a 5mm Allen from the tool to check axle tightness. Seems the axle had backed out, I tightened it which jam the wheel so it would not spin, I backed off enough to allow spin. Recovery plan was dash to Bend first to Revel dealer The Hub, who is also an I9 recognized shop.  He pulled the wheel from the bike. He noticed right away that the driver (?) was not seated into the hub, he removed the driver to see a mish mash of mislocated springs and or pawls. The hub was not correctly assembled during service. The driver was broken and the face of the hub shell was scared. Major damage. I returned to servicing shop and laid out their error. Guy said he would review with wrench the next day and call me. Short story was he would not accept responsibility. They did loan me a wheel until the I9 is repaired. The wheel is now on the way back home for rebuild. Cost $100 UPS, I9 will replace damaged parts then ship back. Guesstimate is mid July before back on superior I9 wheel.

The runners just ran off.

Yesterday was consumed by emerging tasks: DR visit, prescription pick up, wheel activity. I had a sometimes dry cough that is a COVID symptom. The DR’s appointment voice mail said if any covid contact triage nurse. Short story yesterday at pharmacy store opening  I bought a home test then performed it in my van in the parking lot. Healthy result. PA said I have a virus rebound from last month’s nasty cold. Lungs are clear. Good to go. Back out at Phils for the night, different spot.

I parked under scattered P pines giving scattered shade. Maybe after sundown I happened to look at the solar panel controller to see no data. WTF? Battery storage? Even under the shade the face would display remaining voltage. Dead. How about that? This AM the data displayed. The panel has worked all day.

Oh, clean clothes, laundry day.

So, back at Swampy to ride what I planned to ride 2 days prior. I pedaled away on the loaner wheel, with beaucoup degrees of engagement, not like almost instant engagement of the Hydra hub. This is what like going technology backwards. To keep pedal in engagement meant constant pedaling under load. Need to figure out wheel loft point. So far no success. No ratcheting. There is no sound from hub, dead quiet. I’m riding. I rode a Swampy loop, short, 7.88 miles but climbing 957′. Trails up here are more primitive.

Cascade mosquitoes have been sucking my blood.

Runners et. al. have cleared, back to solitary.

Slow internet speed here at Swampy.

4th of July weekend in tourist town. Bend is a living city, not a retirement community like Sedona. Lots of people out and about downtown as I drive around.

Dishes, wet wash cloth wipe down, clean body for clean sheets. Days are getting shorter.

Weekenders have left. Gets crowded on weekends. My preferred spot at Phils is occupied by long time stayers. Next spot is past Marvin’s gardens trail crossing. I arrive before dinner, maybe 4 PM, to beat evening crowd. This morning I counted 6 vans out here, 1 in each spot, just vans. So many more  people. You only know change if you have experienced whatever before. Why I remember I could drive out here after a town dinner and find a preferred spot open.

Sat was a COTA volunteer trail work day further out rd 41 Conklin rd. about 6 miles of washboard gravel road that I did not want to drive van on. My plan was to hitch hike to work site. I dressed in my work clothes and wore my GOATS hard hat then stood out in the side road where I stayed allowing pull over room. Stuck my thumb out. Work project was to be punctual car pool time at 9. I kept looking at the time count down for a work party rig to pick me up. Score, a minivan with Oregon bicycle license plate. Tyler and yes he was attending the party. At meet up we joined the others. Over the years I had worked with 3 attendees. Work project is building a loop trail within the Sun River system. Trail will be a black diamond. Rock work in places, rest dirt. I worked on creating the tread.

Tyler returned me to my van. I called Web Cyclery as Kevin said he had plenty of chains. Score, even the shorter length meaning I had to remove just 4 links. Drove out to plan B spot at Phils, scored a shaded spot. Then watched others arrive filling remaining spots. I sized the chain then installed and checked shifting. So far so good. I pedaled a bit checking for chain skipping on a cassette gear. No skip, meaning cassette and chain ring were not damaged by the stretched chain.

Today temps warmed up, want to get after a ride before heat of day. On weekends the forest closure is lifted allowing riding trails closed during the week. I climbed Ben’s, which is directional uphill and is open, to start of Pine Drops which is in closure. Accept the ruination of the forest after the feller buncher extraction.

Finished on Kent’s, back to van to spend another night.

Diesel is almost $7/ gal. Station pump shuts off at $95. 13 gallons.

10 PM, 63 degrees, side door open w/o screen: no insects in high desert to be attracted to lights. I saw my first Pandora moth caterpillar.

Forecast for tomorrow is 90s. Plan will be to grocery shop then head up to Swampy TH which is about 2,000′ higher and slightly cooler.